This invention relates to the container packing industry and more particularly to the spacing of container groups for the purpose of receiving protective partitions prior to being packed into boxes.
It is common practice to separate individual containers within boxes by interposed partitions. The partitions protect the containers against damage during shipping and handling. The containers in question are generally cylindrical glass objects, such as jars or bottles. Typically, the partition utilized is formed of interconnected pieces of cardboard that form compartments equal to the number of containers.
There is not much difficulty in placing partitions over groups of containers that have upwardly tapered necks such as beer or soft drink bottles. The containers substantially self center themselves within the individual compartments of the partition as it is lowered into place. However, with substantially cylindrical containers such as jars having flat top portions, it is desirable to find some apparatus and method by which the containers may be separated prior to the reception of a partition. If the containers are not adequately spaced, the result is that the partition being forced downwardly against the containers will often overturn the out-of-place containers and damage them. Another result is that an incomplete group of containers may be packed in the box, due to misplaced containers.
The present apparatus solves the above problems by automatically separating groups of containers into prescribed partition receiving patterns prior to the placing of the partitions over selected patterns of containers. In doing so, the containers are precisely separated to enable exact positioning of the partition on the group regardless of whether the containers have tapered top ends or are simply cylindrical objects such as jars or cans.
An indexing apparatus is described for preparing groups of identical containers to receive partitions. This is done by separating adjacent containers and forming the container groups into selected partition receiving patterns. It is necessary that the containers have substantially flat bottom surfaces and that their shape is such that when adjacent containers are touching, open spaces are formed at the plane of the bottom surfaces. The apparatus includes a first conveyor means having a working flight for receiving and supporting the groups of containers and for moving the groups of containers in a forward path of travel. Guide means is located on the first conveyor means for arranging the conveyors into longitudinal files as they move along the forward path. Tapered lug means are located in the forward path of the containers for insertion into the open spaces and to engage and separate the adjacent containers, thereby forming them into the selected partition receiving patterns. A lift means is associated with the tapered lug means for inserting the lug means into the open spaces and urging the lug means upwardly to separate the containers into the prescribed partition receiving patterns.
Each lug includes a reduced upper end of a transverse cross-sectional dimension that is less than the usual open space between the lower surfaces of adjacent containers. Each lug also includes an enlarged lower end of greater dimension than the open space. Tapering side surfaces connect the enlarged and reduced ends. It is these side surfaces that engage and force the containers apart as the lugs are lifted. There is at least one open partition receiving slot formed within each tapered lug. The slot extends from an open slot end at the reduced upper end of the lug to a closed lower end adjacent the enlarged lower end of the lug. The partition receiving slot is designed to receive a portion of a partition placed between the containers.
One object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for effectively indexing successive groups of containers into partition receiving patterns to simplify the placement of partitions.
Another object is to provide such a device that will operate to separate successive groups of containers into partition receiving patterns without substantially interrupting the flow of containers toward a carton or box packing assembly.
These and still further objects and advantages will become apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment. It should be noted that the following description and accompanying drawings merely set forth an example of the preferred form of the invention, and that other forms may be devised.